B...I...G Update

Wow, so much has happened in the past few weeks and I'm keeping up, but just barely. I need a nap and in fact had to take one yesterday. My body said it was tired and that was that. Just to run through some things I meant to blog about, but life has been so eventful I haven't had the time (Pictures may come later or already be posted depending on the activity.) even the Friday's Food posts have hit the back burner.

I guess the kick off for this marathon was Friday the 15th of May. We're always busy, but we stopped and went to a movie with Grandma. I was apparently tired back then too though, because thinking back I fell asleep during the movie. I tried to stay awake, really I did, but I was sitting still and well I don't seem to do that well anymore.

After the movie I went to a fireside. It was called a "Frugal Fireside." The speakers talked about some great ways to save money and some great principals to live by. Well worth going to.
The day after that however feels like the real kick off to our recent life's eventfulness...
We attended the funeral of our dear friends father. He was a very sweet man and he's gone home to be with his wife. That same afternoon I attended a baby shower. That felt slightly ironic, a baby shower and funeral all in the same day.

Pole Pedal Paddle was the next day and it came on the heels of the kids school triathlon. Between all the running Wade did for the school triathlon, that weeks lacrosse and PPP he says he's doing the reading next year instead. I do believe the kid was wore out!

As the days continue other regular daily and weekly activities flowed into any vacant time of course. Never a bored moment! In the term regular I include our weekly sports, music, scouts etc... Around the 21st I got to speak to a group of ladies on food storage. A rather favorite topic of mine. I enjoyed the experience. I had fun with it thanks to some kind donors of props for my talk :)

Wade's class field trip to the caves came on the heals of the speaking engagement and I do not remember what happened that weekend, but it may have been the boys camp out in the back yard. I think that's right. Yep!

Memorial Day was after that. We had breakfast at the church and then followed it with all the fun target practice and a bunch of garden work. I got my late Mother's day gift of a rota tilled garden. Something I've been asking for for quite some time since I usually turn it by hand and I'm just not feeling that spry this year. I guess I missed mother's day in the previous ramblings so I'll back up here a second....

I was pampered with gifts from my mother-in-law and children. Hubby was out of town and I have to say I was pretty bad about celebrating this year other then calling people. My favorite besides the rota tilled garden was the Rosemary bush. I told my mother-in-law she was inspired, since mine had survived all winter only to bite the dust this spring. Weird! Oh, well. I'm enjoying some savory cooking with my new rosemary bush. Wade almost had a major catastrophe in that Jasper got a hold of his presents he made at school. I thought it funny and ironic that one of the items was a poem about all the reasons mother wouldn't want a dog and here the dog had chewed it. We haven't had too many losses in this department and even this was salvageable.

Days continuing with errands and regular life until that Thursday when we had the honor of attending my nephews Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Pretty awesome achievement! He put in over 400 hours on his project. The speaker said that in the last year something like 17 boys had achieved Eagle giving over 3700 hours of service to our community.

The next day seemed to be a very loaded day. Wade had actually tried out for the school talent show earlier in the week and got in. It was now Wyatt's turn. He tried to practice first thing in the morning, but found his violin was completely out of tune. He'd practiced the night before and it was fine, but all the sudden it was out and out bad. He tried putting it back in to no avail so after dropping them off at school I ran the violin over to his instructor. She helped get it back in tune and then I dashed off with it to the school. Wyatt tried out, but didn't make it this year. He's totally fine with that! He was just supporting the school in participating.

After all the above I went home where the rest of my day was consumed with scouting stuff. I'm happy to say though that the time was well spent as two more boys were able to achieve their Webelos rank as well as their Arrow of Light and one younger gentleman was able to achieve his Bear rank. It's just as fun for me as a leader so see them reach these great goals!

On the 30th we woke and dashed off to a church service project set up with United Way Days of Caring. We gardened at one of the local schools. Their garden was having some major work done as well as a pond installed. Some of the plants that had been where the pond was were distributed to anyone who wanted them. I got some lovely mint and some raspberries to take home. That was a neat addition to my day.

We left the service project and after taking our plants home headed off to the park where we met up with the scouts for a big 3 mile hike. I say big because their just little guys. They did pretty good. Some of the littler ones straggled towards the back, but a parent and one other leader helped make sure no one fell too far behind. It took a half an hour longer then I thought it would just because we had to stop a lot, but we made it back! Next time I think I need a pack mule though to haul water. I took 5 water bottles, just in case someone didn't have enough. Turned out I didn't have enough. Wade drank 4 by himself. He's always been a pretty heavy water drinker. He sweats so much I'm pretty sure he has to. Anyway, he can carry his own next time I think. The little guzzler :) It may be time to invest in one of those water back packs for that kid!

We left the hike and dashed to the store. I had not planned ahead and made dinner. I was so tired I didn't feel like looking at my kitchen. I was pretty sure the house looked like a tornado had come through and so I gave in and bought dinner. I came home tidied up and soon we had the missionaries and our neighbors from church over at the house enjoying a simple meal out on the back deck. The weather was nice enough for it. That busy day complete I can't tell you how much I looked forward to the next day where I could SIT in church. Sitting was a very nice thought at this point. I only hoped if I snoozed off from lack of movement someone would elbow me awake.

After church on Sunday we had some sick friends that we went and took some goodies to. One of them has hand line irrigation she needed changed and I had talked to her before about the boys gaining experience with this. This seemed as good a time as any so off we went. I kept telling the kids to watch there step and make sure they missed the cow pies and we did really good up till the very end, when I STEPPED IN THE COW PIE! Really, what kind of example was that :)

The next week looked pretty basic on the calendar only "the usual stuff." Well it has been somethin' else. Somewhere in the writing above I missed posting that another lovely lady from my church had her father pass away. It wasn't unexpected, but still your saddened and I was not able to attend the funeral due to the hike I was in charge of with my scouts. My heart went out to her though. Similarly we also missed a bridal shower for a sweet girl in our ward. Just too much on the schedule, but we wish her the best. We have more celebrations on the horizon and less scheduling problems when it comes to attending them...

2 more baby showers,
another bridal shower and the wedding reception that goes with it,
a graduation,
and a good neighbor's birthday who's always so thoughtful she needs to be remembered too...

All these wonderful events seemed to be shadowed over this last week though as we all got very well acquainted with our knees over other events. A missionary who once served in our area, ate at my table, was killed. We're not sure all the circumstances, but he was a good man and I'm sorry for his family. He was much too young to go. One young gentleman at our church had a bicycle accident that was pretty severe, but could have been worse had he not been wearing a helmet. He'll be fine, but is going to be feelin' the after effects for a while and have to have some work done to fix all that was broken. This news came with others that a few people had various cancers and possible cancers. My head really started to feel like it was spinning about now from all the news. All are getting treatment and expected to be fine.

Then very unexpectedly a special young man at our church had a medical problem come on very fast and after arriving at the hospital went into cardiac arrest. The family, after brain scans that showed no activity, were looking at releasing him from life support when he did the amazing and woke up. It was only briefly, but it was enough. A 24 hour watch period was put in place after which they would check him for brain activity again. It was never needed as he's was awake before the 24 hours were up and doing well. He's himself again, asking questions and understanding all he's told. The doctors are completely baffled, but well pleased that they were wrong. I know his dear sweet parents are too! He's not completely out of the woods so any prayers for a young man named Gabriel would be greatly appreciated. And yes he is an angel like his namesake.

Our church is breathing a sigh of relief as this last major crisis has turned out much better then it seemed it would and were all standing pretty amazed at the moment over this young man's recovery. None of us I think wants to dare say "what next." I think we'll all take a quiet uneventful summer, the good Lord willing.

After checking the Internet a million times for updates on our friends in need I would dash off to something more often then not having to do with scouts or school. As the year winds up we have a lot of extra events. This week included getting Jasper micro chipped. Poor guy! Necessary though and I'm thankful for the technology. I'm thankful to say he's been a pretty easy dog to train. I (knock on wood) think he may be potty trained at this point. I don't think we've had any accidents in quite some time and he's asking to go out. His few minor hitches are easily out weighed by his smartness at catching on.

Both boys had teeth appointments. Wade's prospects for getting his braces off soon are good. He'll have to have them again when he's older, but he needed to have some correction done now. The boys also had two separate Young Author's Nights. This is a special night where the parents go around and listen to as many stories of the kids as we can while signing comments for them to read later and getting their autographs. Their asked to dress up special and they get a little water bottle and such to make it seem like a real author book signing. Pretty fun. I'm always so amazed at the variety that comes out of an assignment the teachers give. For instance directions on "How to Eat an Oreo." The kids come up with some interesting and fun stuff all seemingly different from their classmates. I can't wait to get most of their papers home in that end of the year packet. Both improved in their writing and I'll have to post a few of their pieces online.

We followed these activities with helping with the school art show, also an all school BBQ where the parents were invited (I even got to play "lunch lady" briefly in between Wyatt's and Wade's lunch times), and finally a helmet fitting event. This wonderful business in town "The Center" (Orthopedic care I believe.) Donated bike helmets to the kids at school. Not all of them, just those who needed them. They also had all the kids bring their helmets and checked them for proper fit and condition, making adjustments where necessary. I've seen their name other places as well including my own soccer team's uniforms last fall. They sponsored our team and several others. I'm going to have to go down there one of these days and shake their hands personally for the great work they do in our community.

Speaking of that soccer team I had promised one little boy we'd play a game at the school some time so Wade's teacher and myself teamed up against Wade and Zeak. They beat us spectacularly of course 3-2. We were very happy for them and their victory :) It was a fun way to get my exercise in for the day too.

On the sports front Wyatt finished up fencing. He enjoyed it very much. The last day was a small tournament between him and his classmates. He won 4 of the 6 matches he was in. He's doing flag football in the fall and wants to do volleyball after that. Already looking busy next year. Lacrosse is almost done. We've had to miss some due to my scouting responsibilities, but that's okay. We're just there to have fun and we can only do what we can do. Wade too has signed up for sports in the fall. He's playing soccer. I pretty much said no sports this summer. I'd like some time off. We can go kick the ball around on the days we feel like and leave the rest for other things.

As far as scouting we just had our final big pack meeting before summer. No den meetings till September and only a couple pack meetings to earn the kids summer time pack award one of which will be a rocket derby. Fun times :) My focus has now shifted to day camp. One more week of school and then a week to get ready for day camp. Lots to do between now and then.

Saving the best for last... I realized in all this melee it had been a while since the girls and I talked. I felt bad about that. They'd been on my mind as I thought about how thankful we are that all our children are safe and making good choices and doing well in general. I called them up and had some nice chats with them. Their looking forward to the end of the school year and visiting. Their enjoying time with friends and making all the memories that teenagers make. Their happy and that means a lot. We're all excited to see them and the time is quickly drawing near. I have to say that I didn't ask Hannah about soccer, but she was a bit preoccupied with a spider ;) I'll have to call again :)

I pulled a bunch of weeds tonight and tomorrow is the talent show. Everyone think "happy thoughts" Wade's direction. He's going to be nervous I'm sure getting up in front of the whole school. The weekends looking busy too, but I think I'm going to wheedle out some time for a nap in there. I really am just a bit tired and that's okay.